Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/108

 The "anelace" mentioned by Chaucer, which has its prototype in the "parazonium," the basilard already mentioned, and the épée-de-passot, all belong to the same family of weapon. The cinquedea are without doubt Venetian in origin; indeed, they are generally known as Cinquedea Veneziana. They are frequently seen represented in North Italian pictures of the XVth century. The extreme difficulty experienced in handling these weapons makes an understanding of the rules governing the fight in which they were employed no easy matter; indeed, worn as they seem to have been at the back of the belt, in a parallel line with it, and placed, as in the case of the main gauche dagger of the XVIIth century, so as to be readily drawn with the left hand, the combat they suggest seems nothing more complicated than murder pure and simple. It may be that the broad-bladed dagger sword had its origin in the East; but since it dates back to the early years of the XVth century, and the only Eastern weapon with which we are now acquainted that resembles it in the formation of its blade—the Indian Katár (Fig. 848)—appears first in the latter part of the same century, this can scarcely have been its prototype.

Known as a katár, peculiar to India from the early years of the XVIth century onwards

Before we give a short list of those cinquedea which are most worthy of notice, we may as well mention the interesting fact that in Italy, from the very beginning of the XIXth century, this class of weapon has for some reason or other received the assiduous and particular attention of the forger; though other varieties of swords and daggers of XVth century date have not wholly escaped such attempts at reproduction. As in England in the forties of the last century, early helms and pointed sollerets were the speciality of the fabricator, so Italian forgers of arms and of armour turned their attention to the cinquedea as a medium for the exploitation of their talent. Indeed, a Venetian, one San-Quirine, has since become famous for his ingenious combinations, for his knack of adapting a real blade to a false hilt, or vice versa, and for his skill in